Life can get in the way of the pursuit of higher goals like a college degree.

Fortunately, Serina Brown, who is the SNAP & cash coordinator at the SUNY Rochester Educational Opportunity Center, is here to help.

Her job is to lend a hand to college students so they can enroll for benefits from SNAP, which provides support to low-income families so they can purchase food and points them towards resources that will give them the strong footing they need to get graduation.

The SUNY system has launched auto-enrollment for SNAP, making it easier for students facing food insecurity to get help.

“It’s the essence of what I do to help an individual with those barriers, those challenges so that it doesn’t stop them from continuing school or stop from obtaining that employment,” said Brown.

It’s a struggle she knows all too well.

When Serina is at home, she thinks about how she was a young single mother in her 20s with five kids after her husband went to jail.

“I had to look at each moment on how I was going to let it define me. I can't be a victim. The odds were against me in terms of being something successful,” she said.

Determined to give her kids a better life, she pursued a college degree. Having access to SNAP benefits made all the difference.

“SNAP benefits to give me basically money that was for food specifically that allowed me to use other money for things that I had to, to make sure I had gas, make sure my bills were paid. Adjusting my work schedule so I can do that. It was a tremendous help in me being successful today,” said Brown.

Despite the help, it was anything but easy.

She says her grandmother’s passing was just one of several instances she could have dropped out.

“I wish I could say I didn’t curl up in a ball many a night and just cry, but I did. It took me a total of 10 years to get from having just a high school completion to an associate's degree to a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree,” Brown said.

Now in a position to help students that are in a similar place, she tells those thinking of dropping out of school that life will always get in the way, but that doesn’t mean you have to have to quit.

“As long as the funding is out there, there is no reason not to. Sometimes people just need a person to reach them where they are to get them where you know they can be,” she said.

You don't have to be a SUNY student to sign up for SNAP benefits. As long as you meet the income requirements, you can get help.

To sign up or find more information, follow this link.